A number of people from patients, to the family members of people treated at the hospital and even nurses working during the “unprecedented” busy period on Monday (September 18) and Tuesday, have taken to social media to share their views on the crisis that lead to hours of delays.

One person, who had gone in to the emergency department with her elderly dad described her experience.

She wrote: “A&E Monday 9.30pm... dad was taken there after a bad fall (he's 87). Ten ambulances outside, walking in was like there had been a major disaster, trolleys in [the] entrance, the exit, all corridors where full of people on trolleys. It took 14 hours for them to get a bed for dad. Every one of the doctors, nurses and staff are bloody heroes that's for sure.”

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Another woman who had been in A&E at the time said it had taken more than three hours for an ambulance to reach them.

However, she also said that when paramedics did reach them, they were “amazing” and praised all of the staff at the hospital for their work at such a hard time.

She wrote: “We were in one of the ten ambulances after calling 999 for my husband, everyone from carer, paramedic, ambulance crew, hospital staff were amazing! Apparently 50 per cent of the patients being treated are still holidaymakers, this came from a nurse! A&E brought staff in from everywhere, the ambulance crews were helping to move patients around they were amazing!

"The ambulance co-ordinator in A&E he was doing his utmost to get the ambulances back on the road, we had to wait for over three hours for a 999 call out! My husband had to lie in the base of the shower for over three hours, with paramedic attending him for two-and-a-half of them, she was very concerned for him!”

A nurse who was at the hospital during the busy hours on Tuesday also commented, and said that the numbers of people coming in to the A&E ward were “unprecedented”.

She said that she was taken from a “different clinical area” to the ward to try to help treat people as quickly as possible and added that she was proud to be part of the hospital team.

“I was one of the nurses pulled from a different clinical area yesterday to help nurse the queue,” she wrote.

“I am so, so proud of being part of RCHT. When things get tough we all muck in together to help treat our patients as quickly as possible. It was unprecedented yesterday but I have to say that everyone I looked after was so patient and kind considering the tremendous pressure we were all under. Too often RCHT is cast in a bad light. We are working under incredible pressure 24 hours a day but I, for one, will always be proud of the work that everyone does.”

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It was two days of hours of delays, people being treated in corridors and ambulances and having to “wait in pain” until ambulances arrived, but reports suggest that the hospital has now returned to normal.

Here's what happened:

Time Line

This is what happened at Royal Cornwall Hospital A&E

Monday - increased waiting times

The hospital emergency department was reported to be very busy on Monday evening and patients suggested that there were waiting times of up to three hours

Tuesday - hospital officials advise people not to go to the emergency department unless it is an emergency

Waiting times at A&E were still around two-and-a-half hours long on Tuesday afternoon and hospital officials put out advice to local residents asking them not to go to the department unless it was an emergency

Tuesday - hospital compared to scenes following a "major disaster"

People at the hospital said that it looked like a "major disaster" had taken place, with trolleys and patients waiting in the entrance, exits and corridors of the hospital

The councillor put a post out on his Facebook page saying that while he was at the hospital there were ten ambulances waiting outside.

The councillor said that the post had been seen by more than 90,000 people and shared hundreds of times

Wednesday - Cornwall Live visited the Royal Cornwall Hospital

We visited the Royal Cornwall Hospital to see if there were still delays - it was much quieter with waiting times of around 50 minutes and nine people waiting to be seen

Wednesday - Royal Cornwall Hospital releases statement

A Royal Cornwall Hospital spokesperson said: "Royal Cornwall Hospitals has been extremely busy with significant demand for our services. Patient safety is our top priority both in our emergency department and supporting patients to get home or to onward care. The local community can help by using alternative services wherever possible such as minor injury units, urgent care centres, GPs and pharmacies to keep the emergency department for emergencies and supporting relatives or friends to come home from hospital. To view Minor Injury Unit waiting times visit:

Thursday - emergency waiting times less than half an hour

At 10.15am on Thursday, waiting times at the Royal Cornwall Hospital A&E department had been reduced to 29 minutes, with just two people waiting to be seen

Yesterday Councillor Martin explained that the he had witnessed the delays and queuing ambulances during a tour of the hospital that he was given on Tuesday.

He said that as well as patients waiting in the hospital, many had to wait for ambulances to take them to hospital in the first place.

In a statement from the councillor, he claimed that a young boy who broke his leg in St Austell had to be taken to Derriford by air ambulance because there were no land ambulances available to drive him the 14 miles to Treliske.

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Councillor Martin said: “I stood for Cornwall Council in May because I wanted to do something about the state of health and care services in Cornwall. After I was elected, I joined the Health and Social Care committee. As Vice Chair of this committee, I visited RCHT yesterday to meet with the Chief Executive, Kathy Byrne. However my Facebook post and these comments are my own; I am not speaking on behalf of the committee.

“My post has been shared hundreds of times and seen by over 90,000 people, so it is obviously something that people feel really strongly about. Some comments came from people who tried to call for an ambulance [on Tuesday] and had to wait for hours in pain because none were available. One boy who broke his leg at school in St Austell even had to be airlifted to Derriford because there were no ambulances available to take him to Truro.

“Yesterday, after meeting with the Chief Executive, I was taken on a tour of the hospital. I visited A&E, the medical admissions ward, the Critical Care unit and another ward where patients were getting ready to go home. In every department, the message was the same; delays in providing care packages are stopping people from leaving hospital when they are ready, and this is clogging up the whole system, leading to the ten ambulances I saw outside the front door. Although it is increasingly common for paramedics to treat patients in the corridor, at one point yesterday there was not even room to do this, so one patient was being treated outside in the back of an ambulance, something which the A&E consultant described to me as “unheard of”.

“The frustrating thing is that care packages are so much cheaper than acute hospital beds and paramedics, but there is a brick wall between NHS funding (which comes directly from central government) and social care funding (which is paid for by Cornwall Council). NHS funding over the past 7 years has basically been frozen, but Cornwall Council’s main grant from central government has been cut by over 70%, so even though council tax keeps going up, the council has less and less money available to provide care for an aging population.

“The NHS and Cornwall Council are working hard to break down these barriers and create a single “Cornish Health and Care Service” which will put all the money into one pot and use it where it’s most effective. This should mean much more being spent on helping people to stay healthy and safe in or near to their homes, and result in far fewer unnecessary visits to Treliske.

“However, the government needs to recognise that the past 7 years of under-funding has brought our health and care services to their knees, so we urgently need an extra injection of cash to get us through this transition and put the combined service back on its feet.”